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The Australian labour market is still in the throes of a job seeker surplus of 134,000, and things are looking to worsen through until Q2 2014.

New data from The Clarius Skills Indicator demonstrates that the weak demand for labour has pushed the unemployment rate beyond its average, with an expectation of it continuing to rise until it peaks next year at 6%.

Areas with the most oversupply are ICT and engineering. ICT faces an oversupply of 1,600 professionals, compared over 1,100 last year. The end of the mining investment phase rang in the 3,200 engineering professional oversupply – up from 3000 last year.

In contrast, sales and marketing managers are undersupplied by 600.

The Clarius Skills Indicator showed the current surplus of Australian jobseekers of 134,000 greatly exceeded the GFC peak surplus of 90,000,” Kym Quick, CEO of the Clarius Group, stated.

While next year will see the conditions improve, Quick stated that the “roll on effect” won’t actually hit the workforce until mid-2014.

A more positive business sentiment is infiltrating Australia since the change in government, with many business projects previously put on hold being reactivated next year.

“In recent economic conditions demand for highly skilled individuals has been more robust compared to the recession of the early 1990s when the financial crash affected employees at the top end of the market,” Quick said.

“While multi-skilling has served the workforce well during depressed conditions, it could in fact stifle innovation and leadership as people try to do too much. Employees themselves will also reject the new status quo and look elsewhere … this will lead to an even busier job market, including a flurry of CEO changes as skill sets needed to get a business through tough times are different than what’s required to take it to the next level.”